Army Corps Awards $26.4 Million Second Sand Pumping Contract For Post-Sandy Rockaway Beach Restoration As First Contract Sand Starts Pumping

Sand pumping began earlier this week and is part of first of two contractsSecond contract awarded Wednesday for ~3M cubic yards of sandTotal sand pumped through both contracts will be ~3.5M cubic yards of sandWork on both contracts expected to be completed in early 2014

NEW YORK – Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, New YorkCity , New York state and community partners came together to announce both the beginning of sandpumping on Rockaway Beach and the award of a $26.4 million contract for the placement of even moresand to aid post-Sandy restoration efforts.

Overall, the Corps is placing roughly 3.5 million cubic yards of sand along Rockaway Beach fromBeach 19th to Beach 149th to replace sand lost during Hurricane Sandy. This work will restore thebeach to its design profile—making it better than it was before Sandy’s impact. The work is being donethrough two contracts totaling $36.4 million.

The $26.4 million contract was awarded to Weeks Marine of Cranford, N.J., yesterday and is thesecond and larger of two sand placement contracts for Rockaway Beach. It is for the placement ofroughly 3 million cubic yards of sand from Beach 19th Street to Beach 149th Street. The sand for thissecond contract will be dredged from an offshore borrow area.

The first of the two sand placement contracts for Rockaway was awarded earlier this summer and sandplacement work on that contract is ongoing. It was a $10 million contract, also awarded to WeeksMarine. That contract was for the placement of roughly up to 600,000 cubic yards of sand beingdredged from East Rockaway Inlet. Sand is being placed from Beach 89th to Beach 149th as part ofthe first contract.

The second, larger contract will include the placement of additional sand in areas where sand wasplaced through the first contract. When both contracts are complete, the beach will have been restoredto its original design from when the Corps first constructed the beach in the 1970s in partnership withNew York state and New York City. The originally constructed beach included at least a 100 foot widebeach berm that was 10 feet above sea level.

The beach restoration work at Rockaway is being done as part of near-term coastal restoration effortstaking place at previously constructed coastal storm risk reduction projects throughout the region. Whilethe beach at Rockaway provides recreational benefits, it is primarily designed to act as a buffer to helpreduce the impacts from coastal storms.

“The Army Corps of Engineers is excited to begin restoration work on Rockaway Beach," said NewYork District Commander Col. Paul E. Owen. “We’re proud to be working closely with our partners inthe city and state of New York to help the Rockaway community as they continue to recover from theimpacts of Sandy. This sand pumping work will help improve the area’s coastal storm risk reduction,while also improving recreation and restoring the beach which is an important part of Rockaway’sidentity.”

The beach restoration work at Rockaway is being carried out to provide additional coastal storm riskreduction for the community using the Corps of Engineers statutory authorities to repair the federallyconstructed project at Rockaway that was constructed in the 1970s in partnership with the state of NewYork and New York City.

"New York City’s beaches are much more than places for fun in the sun – they’re also a critical defenseagainst flooding and coastal storms," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "We’re hard atwork strengthening those defenses – including here with Phase 2 of our restoration work in RockawayBeach. Working with the Army Corps of Engineers, we are taking measures to not only reverse damageto the beach done by Sandy – but make the beach stronger than it was before the storm. That meanscommunities on the Rockaway peninsula will be better protected from future storms and flooding."The Corps is working closely with its partners in the New York State Department of EnvironmentalConservation and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation as it carries out these beachrestoration efforts at Rockaway Beach.

"New York City's beaches are not only a summer vacation for millions of people, they are a backyardfor local residents and our first line of defense against future storms and flooding," said NYC ParksCommissioner Veronica M. White. "Thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers, more than 3.5 millioncubic yards of sand are being added to Rockaway Beach resulting in a beach that will be higher, wider,and more protective than it has been in decades.”

Everything the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does must be tied to a statutory authority and this work atRockaway Beach is the result of two statutory authorities, one previously existing and one new sinceHurricane Sandy.

Through the Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies Act, PL 84-99, the Corps of Engineers isauthorized to repair previously constructed projects after a large event like Hurricane Sandy. Putsimply, this pre-existing authority allows the Corps to return the project area to pre-storm conditions.Through this legal authority, the Corps of Engineers is authorized to place approximately 1.5 millioncubic yards of sand along Rockaway Beach to replace the roughly 1.5 million cubic yards of sand lostfrom the project area during Hurricane Sandy.

Through the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 (the Sandy Relief Bill, or PL 113-2), the Corpsof Engineers is authorized to restore certain previously constructed projects impacted by HurricaneSandy to their original design profile. Through this legal authority, the Corps of Engineers is authorizedto place the additional roughly 2 million cubic yards of sand at Rockaway Beach to restore the projectarea to its original design profile. PL 113-2 also allocated the funds for the coastal restoration work.While restoration work is going on, there will be rolling closures of roughly 1000 foot wide sections ofthe beach where construction work is active, but the Corps of Engineers will make efforts to limit theimpacts of the ongoing work on recreation without compromising public safety. Closures will be closelycoordinated with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

The coastal restoration work at Rockaway Beach is part of a larger U.S. Army Corps of Engineers effortthroughout the northeastern United States to place nearly 27 million cubic yards of sand to restorecoastal storm risk reduction projects impacted by Hurricane Sandy. Nearly 8 million cubic yards of thatwill be placed at coastal storm risk reduction projects in the state of New York, including at ConeyIsland and at project sites along the south shore of Long Island.